Morning Mail: Liberal spill, NT spill no spill, RBA rates cut, Isis kills hostage, new Harper Lee novel

Guardian Australia's Morning Mail                                                     Wednesday 4 February 2014 g
Liberal spill
Coalition MPs Dennis Jensen and Warren Entsch have demanded a ballot on the Liberal leadership, saying the PM's position is "terminal" and a spill is needed to replace Tony Abbott. Follow today's live blog now! An increasing majority of voters think Tony Abbott is out of touch, arrogant and erratic, according to a new poll that also shows who voters would prefer to be Liberal leader. Yesterday Julie Bishop was being urged to rule out a challenge for the leadership after pledges from colleagues Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrisonthat they wouldn't go for the PM's job. Follow all of today's developments in our politics live blog.
Australian news and politics
The NT government was in turmoil yesterday after alate-night spill, announced at a 1am press conference, that was designed to oust unpopular chief minister Adam Giles. But then he flatly refused to resign, prompting a standoff and a defiant press conference where he accused his challenger of a "tactical error". And by last night he was back in the top job, with would-be coup leader Willem Westra van Holthe appointed his deputy. It's madness in the NT.  Indian mining giant Adani has said Australia's largest mine, the $16bn Carmichael coalmine, will still go ahead even if Labor reneges on $450m of taxpayer money the LNP had previously promised. Which begs the question, why was Campbell Newman handing over billions of dollars of taxpayer money for literally no reason? The dollar plunged after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates to 2.25% yesterday, which could see the cheapest home loans for nearly 50 years. Read the RBA statement in full, and see how the news unfolded in Greg Jericho's live blog of the announcement.
Around the world
Isis claims to have killed a Jordanian pilot they were keeping hostage by burning him alive. 26-year-old first Lieutenant Muadh al-Kasasbeh appears to have been murdered by being set alight while locked in a cage.e.As Peter Greste heads home to Australia, jailed al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy could be freed within hours.  An online job advert for a Paris graphic design company specifying that candidates should be rigorous, well organised, highly motivated but “if possible not Jewish” has sparked outrage in France.  The UN’s highest court has ruled that neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide against each other’s populations during the Balkan wars that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
One last thing
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, has announced that 55 years after her first novel she will publish her second, Go Set a Watchman, in which her beloved character Scout will be seen as an adult woman. The work was completed in the 1950s, but the author had believed it lost for decades. Have an excellent day – and if you spot something I've missed, let me know on Twitter @earleyedition.